{"id":72295,"date":"2020-03-24T18:01:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T16:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=72295"},"modified":"2020-03-24T18:01:50","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T16:01:50","slug":"the-value-of-deprivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-value-of-deprivation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Value of Deprivation"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"72295","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":67893,"related_cahpter":"444","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Will we appreciate what we have lost? And is human connection worth the risk?\r\n\r\n","content":"

Israel\u2019s punishment was meant to be deprivation. Deprivation of their freedom, their land, their temple. They had entered a vicious cycle of abusing the gifts and tools that they had been given, so they were taken away.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel had been tasked with enlightening the world with the message of monotheism, but had not only failed but had themselves worshiped\u00a0 many gods. Exiled, some fled to Egypt, where they continued their pagan practices as if there had never been an exodus or a Moses. Even the banishment from the land and proximity to God hadn\u2019t taught them the required lesson. The punishment had failed, so Jeremiah tells them that they will be wiped out.<\/span><\/p>\n

When something is easily attainable and always available it loses its desirability. Vendors, economists and singles have known this for centuries – if you want to make something ultra-desirable you make it scarce. Economists call them Veblen goods; in the dating game it is called \u201cplaying hard to get\u201d. The more unattainable, the more precious it must be, so the more we will sacrifice for it. The entire value of the thing is a factor of its unattainability, and hence prestige for the acquiror.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel was no longer willing to sacrifice anything for their local, familiar, available God, so he pressed the reset button in the hope that some of them would one day desire Him again. When everything becomes cheapened, sometimes the only way is to completely reset and start to rebuild again from a firmer footing. Only when the people couldn\u2019t sacrifice to God anymore did they miss it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n